Phonograph-needle buffer



T. AHEARN.

PHONOGRAPH NEEDLE BUFFER. APPLICATION FILED JULY 30.1920.

PatentedSept. 12, 1922.

Patented Sept. 12, 1922.

unrrso STATES 428,828 PATENT orrics.

THOMAS ABN, 0F OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA.

FEONOGRAPE-NEEDLE BUFFER.

Application filed July so,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS AHEARN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and resident of the city ofOttawa, in the Province of Ontario and Dominion of Canada, electrical engineer, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Phonograph-Needle Bufiers, of which the followm is a specification.

his invention relates to improvements in butters for needles of sound reproducing machines, and in which the needle is lowered by mechanical or manual means on to the record, and the objects of the invention are to enable the needle to be in place of being dropped quickly on to the record thereby avoiding the roduction of scratches, holes or other undeslrable damage to the record, and it consists essentially of a pivoted bufling member preferably carried by the sound box and adapted to engage the surface of the record in advance of the needle and tn cause the same to be lowered on to-the same, and without damage to the disc, all as hereinafter more fully set forth and described inthe accompanying specifications and drawings.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a. perspective view shewmg the sound box, needle'and record and my invention applied thereto.

Figure 2 is a side view shewing the butter and needle in playing position.

Figure 3 is the same view shewing the butter engaged with the record before the needle comes into playing position.

Figure 4 is a sectional view through the butter.

In the drawings, like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all figures.

Referring to the drawings A indicates the tone arm, 13 the sound box, C the needle and D the record of a sound reproducing machine of any convenient type of construction. E represents my bufiin element pivotally supported from the soun box and adapted to hang b gravity in a substantially vertical position, aving a resilient contact member 10 on the lower side. I

In order to provide for adjustment,this contact member is conveniently mounted in a sleeve 10 having a t gradually lowered ed surface en- I 1920. Serial Ito. 400,134.

gagedwith correspondingly threaded recess 11 111 the body portion 12 of the bufiing element.

It will be seen that when the sound box is ralsed, the position of the butting element w ll be substantially vertical as indicated in Figure 3. As the sound box is lowered, the resilient tip 10 on the buffing element will first engage the record D.

Assuming that the record has been already started and is moving, the movement of the record Wlll swing the lower part of the buffing element forward as indicated in Figure permitting the needle to come into free plzgmg contact with the record.

wing to the fact that the bufling element during th1s movement, supports the weight of the sound box and partly of the tone arm, the movement will be sufiicient to gradually lower the needle without the rapid drop, such as attends the operation of starting a talking machine and which would mar the surface of the record.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many widely different embodiments of my inventionwithin the scope of the claims, constructed without departlng from the spirit or scope thereof, it 1s mtended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification and draw- 1ngs shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim as my invention is 2- 1. In a sound reproducing machine, a sound member, a bufiing member pivoted to the sound box, and a resilient contact member ad ustably supported from the bufiing member.

2. In a sound reproducing machine, a pivoted bufling member having a threaded socket therein, and aiesilient contact tip adjustably held in the socket.

3. In a sound box, a pivoted bufiing member compnsmg an arm'pivoted to the side of the soundbox and a sleeve integral with the arm and extending laterally therefrom beneath the sound box,and a resilient contact member adjustably held in the sleeve.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS AHEARN.

Witnesses: i-

RUBSEL Sf SMART, MARY E. Knox.- 

